Civil liberty

Civil liberty, Freedom from arbitrary interference in one’s pursuits by individuals or by government. The term is usually used in the plural. Civil liberties are protected explicitly in the constitutions of most democratic countries. (In authoritarian countries, civil liberties are often formally guaranteed in a constitution but ignored in practice.) In the U.S., civil liberties are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution’s 13th Amendment prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude; the 14th bars the application of any law that would abridge the “privileges and immunities” of U.S. citizens or deprive any person of “life, liberty, or property…without due process of law” or deny any person equal protection under the law; and the 15th guarantees the right of all U.S. citizens to vote. The related term civil right is often used to refer to one or more of these liberties or indirectly to the obligation of government to protect certain classes of people from violations of one or more of their civil liberties (e.g., the obligation to protect racial minorities from discrimination on the basis of race). In the U.S., civil rights are protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent legislation. See alsoAmerican Civil Liberties Union.

Learn More in these related articles:

organization founded by Roger Baldwin and others in New York City in 1920 to champion constitutional liberties in the United States. The ACLU works to protect Americans’ constitutional rights and freedoms as set forth in the U.S. Constitution and its amendments. The ACLU works in three basic...

in the United States, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which were adopted as a single unit on December 15, 1791, and which constitute a collection of mutually reinforcing guarantees of individual rights and of limitations on federal and state governments.

the fundamental law of the U.S. federal system of government and a landmark document of the Western world. The oldest written national constitution in use, the Constitution defines the principal organs of government and their jurisdictions and the basic rights of citizens. (For a list of amendments...

External Links

Britannica Web sites

A civil liberty is a freedom from having a government or individual interfere in one’s pursuits unnecessarily. The term is usually used in the plural. Examples of civil liberties are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to privacy. In most democratic countries, a constitution guarantees the civil liberties of its citizens. In the United States, civil liberties are guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. In countries with authoritarian governments, a constitution may officially state that civil liberties are protected, but in practice these freedoms from government intrusion are ignored.

Article History

Feedback

Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article!Contact our editors with your feedback.